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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “html shortcode”

wp.org orders by popularity, so a plugin a host bundled onto millions of sites, or a big-brand one that's slow and mediocre, can sit at the top. Our ranking is built to answer a different question: which of these is actually worth installing. How this works →

For “html shortcode”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 4 plugins are pushed down for signals wp.org ignores: errors, a host-installed base, or removal risk.

wp.org search ranks on

Install count (uncapped), the raw star average, freshness, and support. Popularity dominates, so the biggest install base usually wins regardless of how it got there.

We add

A cap on the install boost, volume-weighted ratings, and signals wp.org can't see: whether it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

WP Simple HTML Sitemap shows at wp.org #9 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.9★ average from 10 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation places #8 on merit, 4.7★ from 1667 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Insert Html Snippet 20K+ · 4.9★ (237) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 HTML Page Sitemap (Block and Shortcode) 10K+ · 4.4★ (24) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 HTML Forms – Simple WordPress Forms Plugin 10K+ · 4.9★ (57) wp.org #3 4 HTML Editor Syntax Highlighter 60K+ · 4.4★ (110) wp.org #4 5 Shortcode in Menus 50K+ · 4.7★ (82) wp.org #5 6 TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #12 ↑1 6 too low 7 Shortcoder — Create Shortcodes for Anything 100K+ · 4.9★ (227) wp.org #14 7 too low 8 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #19 ↓1 11 too low 9 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #18 9 too low 10 Shortcode Redirect 10K+ · 4.3★ (31) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too high 11 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #20 ↑2 9 too low 12 The Events Calendar Shortcode & Block 10K+ · 4.7★ (101) wp.org #15 3 too low 13 Hierarchical HTML Sitemap 4K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #7 ↑1 6 too high 14 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #13 ↓6 1 too high 15 Kwayy HTML Sitemap 6K+ · 4.7★ (18) wp.org #6 9 too high 16 Snippet Shortcodes 3K+ · 4.7★ (25) wp.org #10 ↑1 6 too high 17 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Simple Sitemap – Responsive HTML Sitemap for WordPress 60K+ · 3.9★ (72) wp.org #16 2 too high 19 CSV to HTML 300+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #17 2 too high 20 WP Simple HTML Sitemap 3K+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #9 ↑1 11 too high 21 Export WordPress Pages to Static HTML & PDF — Static Site Export 4K+ · 3.8★ (51) wp.org #21 ↓2 22 D Display HTML Sitemap 1K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #11 ↑1 11 too high 23 Shortcode for Font Awesome 700+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↓2 1 too high 24 Advance Custom HTML – Show Off Code Snippets with Live Preview 10K+ · 2.5★ (4) wp.org #23 ↓2 1 too high

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 1M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted Bayesian score and a Wilson lower bound, and keeps wp.org's own freshness and compatibility decays. Method from the plugin-directory source; see Meta Trac #8298. Positions are tracked daily from the first visit to a keyword, so the small arrows show movement since tracking began.